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Published: January 17th 2012
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Hello Everyone!!! So starting this blog to fill everyone in on my travels and expierences!
Jan 9th 2012 - Left indianapolis airport for D.C., then from D.C. to Copenhagen. Let me tell you about the Copenhagen airport! WOW! Its like shopping at a fashion mall! There were stores of GUCCI, Ralph Lauren, COACH, Dolci and Gabanna and many other huge designer names. Everything was tax free and fairly cheap. It was bizarre because seriously there was more shopping available than you could see of the air port! Finding the GUCCI store simple, finding your gate not so much! All of my flights had a 1hr layover and it was barely enough. I would get off one plane and have just enough time to get to my next gate which would be boarding. A few things that I or readers might want to consider when traveling
1) Money exchange in airports costs a fee...so the exchange rate is good but you pay about 10 dollars to do the exchange so it evens out. But it is nice to have some cash on you for wherever your going!
2) Keep your carry on very portable -- duffle bags are a pain in the ass!!! they bump everyone on the plane when you walk down the isle, so keep that in mind.
3) Keep your liquids easily accessible and in one simple ziplock bag!
4) keep your electronics (laptop, ipad, ipod, watch etc) all together because you have to completely take them out and put them in their own seperate box when going through security.
So once i got through Copenhagen I flew to Stockholm. At this point i was exhausted!!! I had been up for over 24 hours! So I landed in Stockholm around 11am on Tue the 10th. Of course like every good travel expierence the airport lost my bags 😊. So with only my carry on (two changes of clothes but i forgot to put toiletres in there) I filed a report and thats about all I could do. I took a Taxi to a hotel called Villa Paulli (pictures soon to come). It was a beautiful historic building and grounds. Actually the place is a "resort" not a "hotel" there are only 18 rooms and mostly is used for honeymoons and business conferences. But no matter the staff was very nice, the rooms comfy, and the place was beautiful! So i immediately went upstairs and showered....best shower EVER! I know how good the showers are after throwing hay all day....this was better! HAHA. So then I ate lunch at the hotel....bleh! The hotel was a 4-5 star place but the food in Sweden is not really my favorite lol. I had a fish called Sole. GROSS! It was oily, mealy, and just in general YUCK. But the bread and butter was very tasty! So after that i took a three hour power nap! From this point on I watched a few movies to try to stay awake until it was more like bedtime. I had some dinner, this was a bit better. I broke my moral code and had veal with roasted carrots and peas - at least it filled me up and was very yummy! Then to sleep AHHHHH!
The next day (Wed 11th) I left for Lulea from Stockholm. Still no bags except my carry on. This flight was only about 1.5 hours. I landed in the most beautiful place ive ever seen! The trees are tall and covered with snow. (pictures soon to come). After I "De-Planed" there was a nice girl from LURC (Lulea University Reception Comittee). She inquired about my lost bags and still no luck. So she drove me to campus and pointed out the local shopping. Then I got bombarded with lots of paperwork and information which i still dont really understand haha. Finally around 4pm got dropped off at my apartment - Vaderleden 9. (Pictures soon to come).
At seeing my new living accomodations I wanted to cry...or at least grab for some lysol/bleach. Sigh - Yuck - Gross - Ick - I would rather live in a nice horse stall 😊. But these expierences are if nothing else hurdles to conquor! So with no luggage and no clue how to get to campus (a 30 min walk), no clue how to get to shopping center (a series of busses), and no clue where to buy food (actually right next door), i crashed in a yucky stained mattress. A few tearful emails to my dad and about 2-4 hours later I picked myself up and started to prioritize!
1) blankets for the evening! --> This was solved when i asked a roomate. I should take time now to describe my living situation. So there is a big building on Vaderleden which is a street. I am building #9. There are 6 floors, 5 of which have apartments on them. Each floor has three apartments. Each apartment holds 5-6 residents. So you walk into my apartment and there is a shared kitchen and living room. From there you have 5-6 seperate/private bedrooms and each bedroom has a private bathroom. So I have five roomates. This first one i met was Valentine, 22 years old from france working on a masters. He kindly provided me with some left behind blankets....again YUCK but hey better than being cold!
2) Food --> this was solved by my second roomate, Adraline, 20 years old from france. She kindly shared a bannana with me 😊 and told me where the COOP was (a grocery store).
3) Luggage --> finally arrived at 8pm via a nice girl from LURC named Hannah.
So at this point my dad has kindly responded to my worrisome emails. I
So after this i went to bed, in those stained yucky unwashed left over blankets 😊 ahhhhh life!
That is pretty much my travel and first day in Sweden :D
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Norm Swanson
non-member comment
What a great start
Amy, What a great description of your great adventure. You have the right idea, those are just problems to overcome. You will look back on these and wonder why you fretted over them. Remember, it is not strange, just different. Enjoy the new and different stuff and you will have a great time. I have also lived and worked in Europe and Asia, so if you need some help andy your wonderful Dad is not available, drop me a line or call. I also spent a good deal of time north of the Arctic circle in Arvidsjaur, Sweden. That was a great time as well. Keep us posted. Norm